Pages

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Organize your desk and supplies according to your needs and usage. Items that are used frequently are best put in a convenient location. For example. I use my stapler, tape, sticky notes and paper clips often so they sit on my desk between the phone and the computer .

The rest of my desk is clear. I pull out folders from my desk drawer or side cabinet according to what I am working on. At the end of the day ( or after lunch) I put tiems back in their correct locations so they can be found easily the next time I need to work on them.

( See more on files and filing in future blog posts and also in the book "The Organized Librarian" on sale above - Click on the tab at top of the page.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Her are some more thoughts coming from our workshop on developing a good working team. As a manager , it should be a goal of ours to help our staff fulfill their potential. By doing this, we develop a staff who does their best and most creative work.

It is a process no doubt but a gradual one. As managers / directors we need to discuss and explore with each one of our staff their strengths, talents, and interests. We need to observe and analyze as we go about our work with our staff to help them to identify their most positive abilities.

Another possibility would be to create a survey asking them what they like to do best. Then we can assign the correct person for the job and have the jobs/ tasks fall into the 'lap" of the right person. This will help to develop the sense of team work within your staff. When they begin to think of themselves as a team , then work and tasks at hand become more efficiently accomplished.

Friday, October 24, 2014

I attended a recent workshop for library manger's , directors, and any staff who has people to manage and direct. It focused on mentoring talent in staff and getting the best results. But the speaker also addressed becoming a better leaders to help your library build a dream team of staff who will love what they do and be creative in their positions.

Her firs big question to use was "Why are you in this job and in this field?" We had a small group discussion to tell our story of how we got into the library field.

As manager or directors , we need to a) develop a vision, share it, and have our staff buy into it, b) communicate regularly with staff, and c) create an environment that allows discussion and a good communication system

So our firs step would be to create our vision/ mission/ Then challenge staff to help build and fulfill the vision you see for your library. As you listen to staff and their ideas , make changes . Embrace good discussions that bring up points to improve your library. Have staff become more involved in the work at hand and the vision of what your library is becoming!

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Organizing your desk is a task that will help you be more efficient at work or at home. Planning your desk space - do you have enough room? Do you have too many stacks? Do you have the items you need on a regular basis?

Most of the time our desks are used for paper work or computer work, We need to have files or supplies that are accessible when needed. If we are lucky you will have drawer space and file storage built into our desk.

Planning for your desk usage, first determine exactly what is needed on a day to day basis . For example: pens, pencils, paper, scrap paper, paper clips, file folders, calculator , stapler , scissors and tape.
Now if you need all these supplies on a regular basis , figure out where to put them , so you can get them if you need them.

The next step is to figure out what tasks you actually do at your desk( reports, budget work, computer tasks , letter writing, computations, etc,) This will help you to prepare the space so that you can complete these tasks) Do you need more room at your desk? Then figure out what items can be eliminated or tucked away in a convenient spot for quick access.

Check out my The Organized Library on the tab above for more information on organizing your workspace and day.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

This site provides recommendations to great and memorable books. The staff receives books from publishers all over the US. The staff then reads and decides if the title is worthy to be placed on the site. Only then does the publisher pay to have their books placed. ( This is great advertising for great books!)

The Staff Recommends site reaches half a million readers and it help readers to find a book they are bound to love.

So to keep up with the latest and best this is the site you want to check out. You can read reviews of their current picks. Also check out their past selections which gives short review of many of their favorites

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Each week as you look at your calendar, you can record meetings, appointments, and other sessions onto your weekly/ daily calendar. The more you do this, the less chance of your missing an important meeting or task. If you seen you are over scheduled, ( by looking the beginning of each week) then you can cancel, reschedule or eliminate certain items.

Make it a habit to also check daily on both your monthly and daily calendar to make sure that you are on task and get accomplish what you need to get done.

On your daily calendar write down items that need to be done that day or week. In the back of my planner, I have several tabs - one of them is work. This is where I keep a master list of items that I need to do.

Every week I transfer items to my weekly /daily lists on days when I know I will have time to complete or at least start the project.

Check out also The Organized Librarian book for more tips and hints on being more organized.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Webereading,com is a mother and son website that is professional looking and very intriguing. K is a mom whose goal is to get people reading. Z is 1 a0 year old who also loves to read and he writes his own graphic novels. A very talented pair to say the least.

There is a review policy and tabs that link you to Ya & Adult fiction review, non-ficition reviews, picture and chapter books, and film reviews.

You will find very interesting review that are fair but critical. I find this to be very helpful. I also like the film tab because they compare books to films which is very helpful in my DVD selection.

Buy Your Favorites Here

About this site

This site will give you hints and tips on being organized, articles on current issues important to both public and school librarians, and ideas on some of the newest tech tools. I love being a librarian! I believe that reading, learning. and technology go hand in hand! I am a career librarian in both school and public libraries. My book The Organized Librarian is now available as an ebook and will perhaps be expanded to a print selection. Look here for excerpts of the book and also how to order. This book will give details on how to organize your self and your library to get more accomplished.